The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has been named lead agency for the Southwest Region University Transportation Center (SWUTC), overseeing an annual $2 million dollar grant for the next four years. The United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) made the announcement recently following a competitive process. The grant money was allocated by congress in last years’ highway transportation bill; The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, or SAFETEA-LU.
TTI Senior Research Economist Dock Burke has been the center’s director since 1992. “We are excited about being selected as the Regional UTC for the next four years,” Burke said. “SWUTC’s grant funding provides opportunities for research, educational, and technology transfer initiatives that complement other TTI programs. This encourages our researchers, faculty and students to develop project ideas which typically might not get funded by other contract research entities.”
SWUTC is a consortium comprised of The Texas A&M University System (TTI and TAMU), The University of Texas at Austin and its Center for Transportation Research (CTR) and Texas Southern University’s Center for Transportation Training and Research (CTTR). The current goals of SWUTC include supporting economic growth and trade, enhancement of mobility and the development of the transportation workforce. SWUTC is one of the 10 regional centers of the University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program.